Parents of Needham's Pollard Middle School students barred from graduation

Wednesday

Jun 24, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 24, 2009 at 3:29 PM

Pollard Middle School eighth-graders weren’t able to share their middle school graduation with parents on June 23 after family members were shut out from the ceremony due to a lack of space.

The ceremony was moved into the Pollard Middle School auditorium for the first time in at least seven years due to rain.

Steven Ryan

Pollard Middle School eighth-graders weren’t able to share their middle school graduation with parents on June 23 after family members were shut out from the ceremony due to a lack of space.

The ceremony was moved into the Pollard Middle School auditorium for the first time in at least seven years due to rain.

“Despite our best hopes the weather forecast continues to be less than favorable for tomorrow and we have made, for the first time in seven years, the decision to move the event indoors,” Principal Glenn Brand said in an e-mail to parents on June 22.

“With a graduating class of over 350 students the total number of anticipated people that would attend this event could exceed 1000 people,” he said. “According to fire code regulations we cannot safely accommodate this number of people in our building.”

The ceremony took place at 9:30 a.m. and ended at 10:30 a.m. After the ceremony, the Parent-Teacher Council hosted a reception for the parents. The Needham Channel taped the ceremony and plans to air it several times in the next week.

Brand previously proposed splitting the children into two groups and holding separate ceremonies but administrators decided to keep the graduating class together.

“While we regret that this precludes you attending the event, we believe that it is important to prioritize bringing the class together for one last time,” Brand said.

Fire Chief Paul Buckley said it would be unfair to heap blame on school administrators since he played a role in the decision. He said sometimes he has to make decisions like these and be the “bad guy.” He apologized on behalf of everyone for the late notice on the decision and for a lack of a contingency.

“I can certainly sympathize with the last-minute communication and the fact we didn’t have a Plan B in place for a weather situation,” Buckley said. “But we had to make a decision for the safety of staff and children…There is absolutely no place in the school to put 1,000 people.”

Buckley noted it isn’t just a matter of how many people could fit in the auditorium. He also said they had to make sure there were enough egresses available for the expected crowd. He promises school administrators will make sure there is a contingency if the same situation arises again.

“They will look at contingencies in the near future,” Buckley said.

Marcie Bruel missed her son’s graduation and pointed out that the ceremony is important to many parents.

“Even the kids are saying, ‘The parents care more than we do; if they can’t go, why should we go,’” Bruel said, noting parents still made their kids go.

Fawn Hurwitz said she lost sleep after learning she wouldn’t be able to attend her daughter’s graduation.

“I personally think it was a terrible thing; you look forward to your child graduating middle school,” Hurwitz said. “My husband rearranged his schedule at work to come. I’m sure a lot of parents did as well…It saying to the kids it’s more important to be with friends than with your parents.”

Hurwitz said she would’ve gladly sat in the rain to be able to see her daughter graduate.

“This is a milestone parents should’ve been there for,” she said. “It left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s a bad way to end the school year.”

Buckley hopes the issues with the ceremony doesn’t overshadow their time at the middle school.

“The most important thing is the kids graduated,” Buckley said. “Hopefully, they had a great learning experience and had fun.”